Photograph Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Day by day Beast/Netflix
In case you might need been unable to establish from its title, The Night time Agent is about an agent. The twist? He works at evening. Now, that isn't inherently particular. McDonald’s workers work at evening too, and so they need to battle drunk faculty college students stumbling in 5 minutes earlier than closing, demanding McFlurrys by way of a cloud of Jaegerbomb haze. However the titular evening agent in Netflix’s The Night time Agent is an agent, who works at evening, and—get this—is ready for a cellphone name!
For all the ridiculously named exhibits and flicks on the market proper now, The Night time Agent may simply be a reasonably stable entry into the canon, regardless of its foolish title. And to be honest, it's named after Matthew Quirk’s 2019 novel of the identical title; a kind of giant-cover-font, John Grisham-esque novels that bounce out at you from the Barnes & Noble sale rack. Your dad has in all probability learn it, and he’ll in all probability be thrilled whenever you inform him that there’s a brand new Netflix sequence tailored from it, streaming at this time on the platform.
The Night time Agent follows the titular evening agent, Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a low-level FBI worker whose safety clearance is so bottom-rung that he can’t even be trusted to work through the day. Peter toils away for an equally amusingly titled authorities program known as “Night time Motion,” which serves as a liaison for undercover brokers to name a cellphone within the White Home basement. From there, Peter patches their misery calls by way of to the suitable channels.
Sometimes, the cellphone doesn’t even ring. Peter’s by no means even a lot as had a crank name come by way of the road—surprising, as I get not less than two spam voicemails a day telling me that my automotive insurance coverage is late, after I don’t even personal a automotive. However one evening, a name comes by way of the Night time Motion line from Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), an oblivious tech guru who has simply witnessed her aunt and uncle being murdered in their very own dwelling. Rose’s name to Night time Motion unravels a wealth of presidency conspiracies, terrorist threats, and nationwide safety cover-ups that, on the very least, ought to be sufficient to get poor Peter a hefty increase and a greater schedule.
The sequence is a lofty manufacturing, even for a streamer like Netflix. That’s doubtless as a result of the present is produced by Sony Footage Tv, which might clarify The Night time Agent’s cinematic pacing. Whereas that massive finances and all of these massive concepts work within the sequence’ favor half the time, they spend the opposite half hindering it with too many unspooling threads and superfluous character arcs. Although followers of the political thriller style will definitely discover it partaking, it’s exhausting to shake The Night time Agent’s slovenly detours to have sufficient constant enjoyable.
(L to R) Luciane Buchanan as Rose Larkin, Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland in The Night time Agent.
Dan Energy/Netflix
This isn’t to say that you must depend out The Night time Agent utterly, although you could be tempted to by its hokey opening sequence. A 12 months previous to the occasions of the sequence, Peter—perpetually the standup do-gooder—spots a bomb being planted on a Washington, D.C., metro prepare, and halts the metro to get all people off earlier than it detonates. Just one individual was killed and numerous have been saved, however that hasn’t stopped on-line conspiracy theorists from asserting that Peter was truly in on the assault. It could solely make sense, provided that Peter’s father was a former intelligence agent as nicely, accused of being a defector, however who died in a automotive crash earlier than he ever had an opportunity to clear his title.
Regardless of his household’s historical past, Peter is invited into the Night time Motion program by Diane Farr (Hong Chau, recent off an Oscar-nominated 12 months), the president’s chief of employees. Diane believes in Peter’s integrity, and a 12 months later, is seemingly the one individual that he can belief when Rose calls into the Night time Motion line. After that time, an invisible time clock begins ticking, and Peter, Rose, and Diane have to determine how you can cease an intricate sequence of nationwide assaults, someway linked to the metro bombing.
The Night time Agent works finest when it’s in full motion mode, delivering thrilling chase and shootout sequences on par with any main theatrical launch. Basso may not even be 30 years previous, however as Peter, he already carries the arrogance of a seasoned motion star. However when he’s not swerving between oncoming visitors at excessive speeds, his emotional resonance leaves a bit to be desired. Buchanan appears equally misplaced in these quieter moments, attempting to strike the fitting stability between a fearful civilian and a pointy securities professional.
Unsurprisingly, the sequence’ grounding presence is Chau as Diane Farr. Surprisingly, Chau stays as mesmerizing as ever within the worst wig to hit tv since The Staircase. Chau is cursed with an pointless lengthy bob, inexplicably coloured grey, as if Diane has been prematurely aged by her high-stress place. It’s a wildly baffling determination that threatened to tug me out of the second in every episode. Fortunately, Chau is such an engaged performer that it doesn’t matter. Even together with her suspicious wig and off-kilter, deepened Virginia accent, Chau is aware of how you can command a digicam. The place different actors would certainly go excessive, she stays steadfast and in management.
(L to R) Hong Chau as Diane Farr and Robert Patrick as Hawkins in The Night time Agent.
Netflix
However even a fabulously studied actor like Chau can’t fairly maintain The Night time Agent collectively, particularly when she’s offscreen. The sequence features like its writers have been known as to fill time. Right here is one other basic case of needlessly prolonged episodes, ostensibly pushing an hour's runtime simply because they will. A few of these facet quests—like a fabulously stone-faced visitor look by character actor Gabrielle Rose in episode 4—serve the plot nicely. Others meander alongside a winding highway within the woods, and will definitely lose viewers with a brief consideration span.
I’m not above being strung alongside by a political thriller’s obscure risk to nationwide safety. Even when The Night time Agent rambled, I used to be ultimately concerned once more when the pacing picked again up or a brand new, outrageous twist revealed itself. That also doesn’t excuse poor dialogue (“It crashed and burned, and after I seemed round, I used to be the one one not sporting a parachute”)—or some evident plot holes and intentional vagueness that enable the present to keep away from explaining itself. However, it’ll doubtless be sufficient for style followers to be glad. That's, if they will keep away from falling prey to pausing throughout a uninteresting plot tour and by no means selecting the episode again up.
It might not have the effectivity of essentially the most memorable political mysteries, however The Night time Agent continues to be a stable return to a style that appears to be dying out of cinemas. Although, regardless of being often absorbing, the sequence can’t fairly obtain the stability between thriller and drama wanted to strike a gradual tone. Little doubt this might simply be cleaned up and trimmed right into a two-and-a-half-hour film in the fitting arms. However in Netflix’s boundless enviornment, The Night time Agent is a slog slowly into the darkish of the night, by no means fairly residing as much as its title’s gloriously foolish potential.
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